The legal industry is a rapidly changing landscape. Keeping up with new technology, working with underserved populations and creating strategies that improve client outcomes are just some of the challenges facing today’s legal practitioners. These changes are a big part of why “law new” is being widely discussed in the industry.
Whether this is a momentary fad or a lasting trend, it’s important to understand the meaning of this term. Law new refers to the concept of providing legal services in new ways that can have an impact on the client’s business and the client’s bottom line. This includes developing alternative service models, using technology to create efficiency and incorporating data into practice.
This is the second of a series of articles that will discuss new law trends and how they are changing the legal landscape. The first article was published last week and focused on the emergence of law platforms, which are creating an environment where lawyers and clients can collaborate and resolve matters more efficiently. The next article will explore the impact of new law on the traditional legal process and how firms are evolving to meet this challenge.
Collaboration is key to business success in the digital age. The speed, complexity and fluidity of business requires that competing entities work together to develop new products and solutions to complex problems. The pharmaceutical company collaboration that led to the Covid-19 vaccine is one example. The legal industry must embrace a similar paradigm shift and collaborative model to better serve its clients and society-at-large. This new approach will replace the legacy economic model that rewards self-congratulatory legal education, profit preservation and outdated delivery models. It will be a collaborative, customer-centric, tech-enabled, solution-based, integrated platform-based delivery structure that enables agile, on-demand resources with verifiable and material expertise and experience to be quickly sourced and delivered.
How a law becomes a law starts with an individual senator or representative who sponsors the bill. It then goes through a process of research, discussion and change in that chamber before it is put on the floor to be voted on. Once passed, a law is then sent to the other chamber for the same process before it is finally enacted as a law. New laws are constantly being created, amended, repealed and/or rewritten. This site strives to publish the most current laws available; however, official reporters should always be consulted for the most up-to-date statutory language.